Who Can She Trust?
by OctoberGirl82
Summary: As Alicia's relationship with Will inches forward, she begins to learn things about him that she never suspected. This will be multiple chapters and is sort of a companion to "Intertwined" but reading "Intertwined" is not necessary to follow this story.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and am not profiting from creation of this work.

"Will? Are you still here?" Alicia tiptoed into the partially darkened office. She didn't think he'd left, but she certainly didn't see him now. When Will materialized from a dark corner, she almost screamed.

"Alicia. I didn't mean to scare you. I just had a lot on my mind and didn't want to be disturbed."

"I'm sorry; I'll go…"

"No, no, please stay. I didn't mean you. How are you holding up?" She could see the sorrow and compassion in his eyes; he knew this wasn't easy for her.

"Well, you know, I'd kind of missed the paparazzi." But her offhand joke fell flat. Work had been crazy at the firm with all the cutbacks, and now that Cary had been let go, he was spreading all kinds of stories about Lockhart Gardner.

"I'm sorry, Alicia. I had no idea Cary would go this far." Cary's favorite claim was that he had lost the junior associate competition because Alicia was sleeping with Will, which, of course, was untrue.

Alicia sighed. "If even part of that rumor were true…" Alicia knew she'd won the job without any extra credit from Will, but Will and Alicia still hadn't even had dinner together. The closest they'd come to an affair was the kiss they'd shared in this office months ago, and although both Diane and Kalinda suspected something, neither knew the truth.

"I agree." They both stood quietly in the darkness, watching the lights go out around them. Finally, Will couldn't take it anymore. "Come home with me."

For a moment, Alicia couldn't react. "Will?" Alicia was currently separated from Peter, but she wasn't sure about going this far yet.

"No, no. Nothing has to happen. I just want…to be with you. To be able to hold your hand and not feel like the world is watching. And the press couldn't care less about me; they don't follow me or hang out at my place." The media hounded Alicia almost constantly, but by this time of night, in the middle of the week, the press would all have moved on to other things. They gave up on Alicia when crime or sleep played into their plans.

"I don't know, Will…" Alicia analyzed her options: going home to a dark apartment and an empty bed, or going home with Will. Even if she slept on his couch, at least she wouldn't be so damned _alone_. "Okay."

"Really?" The light falling in through the windows illuminated a shocked but thrilled Will.

"Will." She didn't want to hurt him, but she wasn't planning to go to bed with him, either.

"It's fine. We'll sit on my couch and watch movies all night if that's what you want."

"Let me grab my things and I'll meet you downstairs." Will tossed her his keys and told her where his car was.

"I should be there before you, but if not, just get in and wait for me." Will intended to be sure no errant photographers were hanging around; if they were, he'd get rid of them. Nothing was going to mess this up.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Alicia reached the car, Will was waiting inside. She gave him the keys back (his car had keyless entry) and after sharing a small smile, they were on their way. Will noticed that Alicia had put on lipstick and fussed with her hair, but he said nothing. He would not jeopardize this night.

"If you need to call home or something, go ahead. I totally forgot about Zach and Grace for a minute."

"They're with Peter tonight."

"Oh." Will _really_ hadn't wanted to hear that man's name.

"Fortunately." And he caught Alicia smiling at him even as she fidgeted anxiously in the passenger seat.

Will reached over and put his hand on her knee. "Don't worry, Alicia. Everything will be fine. You'll see."

They were silent the rest of the trip, but Will didn't mind, since his hand still rested protectively on Alicia's knee. Once they were inside the house, he watched as Alicia took everything in.

"My God, Will, it's you, in furniture." He laughed. He'd picked everything out himself, and clearly she could tell. "What did your other girls think of this place?" The question appeared to be a joke, but they both knew it wasn't. They really hadn't touched on Will's private life at all, but Will was sure she'd heard stories. And she would have noticed he was always with someone new whenever they saw each other.

"What other girls?" His tone was serious.

"Oh, just the thousands of women who have no doubt thrown themselves at Will Gardner over the years."

Will took her hand and pulled her to the sofa, where they both sat, facing each other. "I won't lie to you, Alicia. There have been many women, too many, since Georgetown. But I never brought them here."

"Never?"

"This was my sanctuary, and I decided long ago that only those who matter to me would come here." He squeezed her hand and smiled. "Besides, try explaining _that_ to a woman hoping to snag a lawyer boyfriend." He gestured toward the fireplace.

Alicia stood and walked to the fireplace. On the mantle, among photos of Will at various events, one from his baseball days, and a picture of his parents, was a photo from Georgetown. Gently, she picked up the frame. She and Will, and several of their law school friends, had been at the beach. She remembered how she'd teased Will, probably about one of his conquests, and he'd picked her up and hauled her into the ocean. They'd come out of the water laughing, and the picture had been taken as Will brushed her hair off her cheek. How had she missed the way he'd looked at her that day? "Oh, Will."

"That was a beautiful day. One of the last we were together before I lost you." Of course – the photo had been taken two days before Will left for his summer associateship in Chicago.

Carefully, Alicia replaced the photo and returned to the couch. After several minutes of complete silence, Will could stand no more. "Did that scare you?"

Alicia shook her head. It took three tries to get the words out, and no amount of willpower stopped her hands from shaking. "How did we mess it up so badly?"

With a wry smile, he answered, "I should have been clearer with you, before I left for Chicago. I thought I'd said enough, but after replaying the conversation a million times that last year at school, I realized that I should have said more and called sooner. Life sucks sometimes, huh?"

"Will, I wouldn't wish away those years with Peter, at least the early ones, even if I could. They gave me Zach and Grace. But I don't know how many times I wondered what it would be like with you."

"That day I asked you about your new job, just before graduation? I said I didn't know where it was, but that wasn't true. Even as strained as things were with us, I'd hoped that you were coming to Chicago alone. I wanted to ask if you thought we had a shot. Then…"

"You saw the ring. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I just wanted you to know."


	3. Chapter 3

Silence fell again, until Alicia broke it with, "So, should we have a movie night like we did at Georgetown?"

"I'll get the popcorn." He winked on his way out of the room. "Movies are on the wall by the TV."

Alicia browsed through Will's film collection and she wasn't surprised to see many of her favorites on the shelf. Intentionally trying to lighten the mood, and the undeniable sexual tension, she asked, "_Office Space_ or…"

Before she could finish, Will rounded the corner with the popcorn. "I was thinking more _Top Gun_."

Alicia burst out laughing as her cheeks stained crimson. "I've moved beyond Tom Cruise, Will."

"I'm not sure I believe you. I lost count of the number of times we watched that on VHS."

Oh, yes. Will and Alicia's trinity – _Top Gun_ (hers), _The Natural_ (his), and _Ghost _(both). They'd spent many nights curled up in one or the other's apartment watching those movies until they had the dialogue memorized.

Will put the popcorn on the table while noticing that Alicia seemed to have relaxed in the last few minutes. Hopefully, the movie banter had reminded her of the benign movie nights they'd shared before, taking some of the edge off.

He moved to stand beside her, placing his hand gently on the small of her back. At first reaching for _Casablanca_, he thought better of it and veered off to _Clue_. "How's this?"

Alicia nodded, then kicked off her shoes and curled up in the corner of the couch. Will sat near the other end, the popcorn between them. As the movie played on, Will paid less attention to the screen and more to his companion. Two-thirds of the way through, he finally said, "I don't bite, and I'm not contagious."

Laughing, she slid over beside him. "You know, this movie is _really_ awful."

"I know. But it was safe." She knew what he meant.

Will tapped a few buttons on his remote control and the TV went dark. The radio clicked on, playing soft classical music.

"Your musical horizons have broadened, I see." At Georgetown, it had been all rock, all the time.

"Oh, I still love my rock. I'm just trying to impress you. Is it working?" That boyish grin - the one she had always been vulnerable to – won again.

"Yes, it is." This time, she was the one who reached to stroke his cheek, to hold his face in her hands as she kissed him. This time, he locked one arm around her and twisted one hand in her hair as the heat started to build. After minutes that seems like mere moments, Will leaned back to catch his breath.

"Are you planning on running on me tonight?"

"I don't have my car, and I'm not walking across town." Will remained silent until Alicia laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I'm kidding."

They engaged in another round of kissing, then Will said, "It's getting late. Let me get you something to change in to." At Alicia's questioning look, he said, "I'm not going to push you. We'll leave it here for now, okay?" A smile of relief flitted across Alicia's face. She wanted him, but she didn't want to regret it, and she knew moving too fast could cause that.

"Thanks."

Will headed down the hallway and returned moments later with an old T-shirt and gym shorts. She quickly changed in the bathroom and returned in a fit of laughter. She'd rolled the shorts three times and they still barely stayed on.

"Oops." Will's dark eyes took her in, head to toe. "You still look good in my shirt."

"I still _have_ one of your shirts. I couldn't bear to throw it away, even after everything…"

"Come here."

She padded barefoot across the floor and tucked herself in against his side. They turned on an inane sitcom rerun and laughed together until she fell asleep on his arm. Unwilling to wake her, he turned the television off again, grabbed a blanket from beside the couch, and tossed it over her as well as he could one-handed. Then he settled in to sleep in a half-upright position on his couch. But Alicia was there, and that made everything all right.


	4. Chapter 4

When had her pillow gotten so uncomfortable? Alicia reached to fluff it and felt body heat instead. Her eyes flew open, then she realized where she was.

"Good morning, Alicia." Will's voice was deeper than normal, roughened by sleep.

"Will. Did you sleep here all night?" She sat up and faced him, pretending not to notice the effect her sleep-softened eyes and tousled hair had on him.

"You fell asleep on my shoulder and I didn't want to wake you."

Oh, boy. Alicia was in trouble. He was so attentive, so caring with her, and part of her had always loved him. The way he was looking at her now, a mix of love and lust in his dark eyes, made her want to reject his chivalrous offer to go slowly, but deep down she knew better. They needed to handle this correctly, or she might lose Will, and his friendship, forever.

Her phone started buzzing on the table. She glanced at it, said "Kalinda," to Will, and answered. "What? No, everything's fine." "Well, it's not his business." "I'll be in by eight. Can we talk then?" She hung up. "Damn it."

Will straightened and turned to her. "What's wrong?"

"Apparently, Peter's angry that I didn't answer at the apartment, and he somehow got Kalinda's number and is harassing her."

"What did she tell him?"

"That he could stick it." That made her laugh. "She won't give him any information other than that nothing is wrong, but I'm sure she'll want to know where I was." Alicia sighed. "I need to get ready for work."

Will watched her go, then started the coffeepot and began to ready for the day as well. An unrelenting tightness seized his back but it was a small price to pay for waking up to Alicia. He'd been right before, they were gonna be good.


	5. Chapter 5

At her request, Will let Alicia out two blocks from the office, but she wasn't surprised to find him waiting for her in the lobby. Both Alicia and Will heard their phones start ringing, but they always lost reception in the elevator, so they didn't pick up.

The first thing Alicia noticed was the crowd in the lobby of the Lockhart Gardner offices. It didn't register until too late who was charging toward her.

Before she could stop him, Peter had punched Will in the face. "You son-of-a-bitch! Why were you involved with Childs? Was it to get even with me, or to get your hands on my wife?" Security finally began to pull Peter away from Will. "Alicia, stay away from him. He's a rat!"

Alicia's wide-eyed glance darted from the angry Peter to the stunned, injured Will. What was she supposed to believe?

"It's not like that, Alicia, you have to believe me."

At that Alicia's heart cracked in two. Will had been hiding something from her, just like Peter had for so long. Without a word, she turned and stalked toward her office before anyone could see her cry.

Kalinda shot Will an icy glare that froze him in place before she followed Alicia, and Diane stood by in shock. What had Will done?

"Alicia!" he cried. But she never turned around.


	6. Chapter 6

Kalinda found Alicia at her desk, trying valiantly to keep her heartbroken sobs from showing in her posture as she sat with her back to the hallway. She slipped inside and shut the door behind her.

"Please go."

"It's me." Kalinda knelt in front of Alicia's desk chair and faced the other woman head-on. "It's going to be okay."

Alicia couldn't answer.

"I promise you, I'll find out what's going on." Kalinda gripped Alicia's hand. "You spent last night with Will, didn't you?" Alicia nodded.

"It's not like that." She gulped in a breath and half-heartedly wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I slept on the couch."

"I know you, Alicia." Kalinda's voice was soft. "You're falling for him." It wasn't a question.

Alicia nodded again, this time able to hold back the tears that formed in her eyes.

"Give me some time. I never had any inkling that Will could be involved in this." They both knew Kalinda knew more about Peter's situation that she'd shared with Alicia. "I'll find out. Okay?"

When the tears again spilled over, Kalinda couldn't stand it. She wrapped her arms around her friend until the sobs subsided. If Will had intentionally done something that hurt Alicia this badly, he was as big a fool as Peter.

Then it occurred to Kalinda – Alicia had never cried like this over Peter.


	7. Chapter 7

Diane leaned against the door to Will's office as he held an ice pack against his blackened, swollen eye and paced the length of his office. "What have you done?"

"It's not what Peter made it sound like. I was _never_ part of Childs's conspiracy against him."

"But you knew about it." Will's silence confirmed what Diane already suspected, but Will wasn't going to elaborate.

"I need to talk to Alicia." 

Just then, Kalinda forced her way into the office. "You _will_ stay away from her, Will. She's downstairs trying to catch up on some paperwork and Courtney's playing gatekeeper. In fact, Alicia doesn't wish to see anyone until I've gotten her some answers." Kalinda could barely contain her fury when she spat venomously, "I warned you, Will, but you didn't listen."

Will spun away from the women and flung the ice pack at the wall. The force of the blow knocked two pictures from their moorings; they crashed to the floor, frames breaking, glass shattering. Diane just shook her head, and Kalinda walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

Alicia spent the next week in a hazy fog of self-protection. She barely spoke to anyone – only Kalinda, Diane, and Courtney at the office, Peter and the kids otherwise. She'd avoided Peter as much as possible; he was pushing her to let him come home since "that infatuation with Will has passed."

Unfortunately, Alicia's feelings for Will were much more substantial than adolescent infatuation. A hundred times in the last week, she'd caught herself, phone in hand, ready to call him. Deep down, she knew she should exercise great caution, but waiting for Kalinda to find out the truth was killing her.

To make matters worse, she saw Will several times a day at the office. Diane had stepped in, reassigning Alicia to cases Will wasn't involved in, so they weren't working together, but Will made it a point to pass by her office as often as possible. Every time, Alicia's hands itched to touch him, to soothe away the broken, defeated look in his eyes. Even now, two hours after leaving work, she still had nail prints on her palms from clenching her fists in resistance of his tugs at her soul.

The doorbell rang, but Alicia took a moment to drain the final swallow from her wine glass. She was momentarily shocked to realize she'd nearly finished the bottle before she weaved toward the door. A delivery boy handed her an enormous bouquet of red roses, along with a smaller basket filled with stargazer lilies and pink tulips.

"Guess you've got your share of admirers already," flirted the boy as he handed over the flowers but Alicia paid no attention. She knew without reading the card that the roses were from Peter – he was great at the ostentations gestures; it was the little things he'd never been much good at. But that basket…

She'd received an identical basket the day she graduated from Georgetown. The card had read simply "All my best" but had been unsigned. At the time, she'd just assumed they were from Peter, but when she learned differently, days later, she'd had no other suspects.

Had it been Will? He'd never been the type to send flowers, but then again, his relationship with her had always been quite different from his with any other girl.

The roses dropped onto a side table, forgotten, as Alicia dug for the card in the basket. After three tries, her drunken fingers finally succeeded.

"A,

I'm so sorry to have put you through all this. I just hope one day you'll be able to forgive me.

Always,

Will"

Alicia smiled for just a moment through a fresh onslaught of tears. Will had always teased her for her somewhat unorthodox closing, but 'always' had suited her quite well.

She placed the basket on her coffee table and stole glances at the flowers for the rest of the night. She wanted so desperately to forgive Will, but after having been so publicly betrayed and humiliated by her husband, she knew she needed the truth about Will's involvement in the scandal. Otherwise, she'd never fully trust him, and she knew that was no way to maintain a romance or any other type of relationship.

Across town, Will continued to find reasons not to go home. He'd only been there twice since the incident with Peter, but without Alicia there, it no longer seemed like home. He felt her picture mocking him, swore he could still smell her perfume in his living room.

He'd done everything he could think of to make things right again, but Kalinda continued to maintain a wall between him and Alicia. She'd told him in no uncertain terms that she would continue to interfere until she found out the truth – but she wasn't taking Will's word for it.

So, like he'd done for most of the last fifteen years, he buried himself in his work. He slept very little – nightmares haunted by Alicia's heartbroken eyes stalked his every rest. He had even managed to resist calling Alicia, but after a week of being kept from her, he ached to apologize. He couldn't call - Kalinda would kill him if she found out – and email was too impersonal. But flowers… So Will had sent Alicia the basket, hoping his words on the card said enough for now.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, as Alicia took two aspirin for her headache, she finally remembered the roses, which were already wilting on the table by the door. Without a second thought, she scooped them up and tossed them in the garbage before dressing for work. Later, on a whim, she snatched up the basket of lilies and tulips on her way out the door.

Will had almost a sixth sense about Alicia; he knew when she arrived at the office and he couldn't resist a trip down those stairs just to see her. He stopped three steps from the landing, stunned, when he saw the flowers on her desk. A moment later, he realized Kalinda was there, and he started moving again, planning to get in touch with Alicia when Kalinda left on a case in an hour.

The seventy-five minutes Will waited seemed to last about two lifetimes. Finally, he just picked up the phone and called her. "Can I come down? We need to talk." Her affirmative answer had him nearly running for the door.

He let himself into her office, pretending not to notice that half the firm now suddenly had an urgent need to loiter in the hall near Alicia's office. "You got the flowers."

"They're beautiful." She had to pause and gather her courage to ask, "You've sent these before?"

He tipped his head to the left and shrugged his shoulders but his eyes said yes. "Why do you ask?" 

"I got a nearly identical basket of my favorite flowers the morning we graduated law school, but I didn't know who sent them."

"I did."

"And the card?"

"I didn't want to cause trouble. And last night's card – well, I owed it to you but didn't want you to feel threatened or cornered. And, Kalinda threatened me if I tried to call you."

Alicia's smile was half-hearted. "Will, is she going to find out things about you I don't want to know?"

"No. I swear to you, Alicia, I wasn't involved. I hope you will understand when she pulls it all together. If we're ever going to have a shot, I don't want you to always wonder if I'll end up just like Peter." He turned and left her sitting alone in her office.

Will really _was_ serious about them. Alicia hoped Kalinda would hurry up; she needed answers, _now_.


	10. Chapter 10

After four more unbelievably long days, Kalinda, wearing her serious face, strode into Alicia's office at just past five and firmly shut the door behind her.

"Kalinda?" Alicia couldn't keep the anxiety and, she ruefully admitted, hope from showing in her eyes as she faced the investigator.

"Are you ready, Alicia?" Something in Kalinda's voice wasn't quite right, but Alicia was too jittery to decipher it.

"I guess."

A grin spread across Kalinda's face. "Will wasn't involved in the conspiracy. Childs tried to draw him in with various bribes, but Will never took them. The only thing he's guilty of is not telling Peter what was going on. And according to my sources, Will didn't know Childs was scheming to set Peter up – he thought it was all legitimate – but Will still refused to get involved."

Alicia slumped back in her chair and started to breathe again. Will really _was_ who she thought. Now she felt like dirt for questioning his intentions. Wrapped up in her own thoughts, Alicia didn't notice that Kalinda was on the phone.

"…apology. I'm in Alicia's office."

Hearing her name, Alicia shook of her thoughts and looked up at Kalinda. The slightly devilish grin on her friend's face made it perfectly clear what she'd done. Before Alicia could stop her, Kalinda slipped out the door and disappeared down the hall.

Will appeared moments later and Alicia's heart started racing like she'd run a marathon. She waved him in.

"Where's Kalinda?" Will nervously fingered his tie and didn't look Alicia in the eye. "She said she needed to speak to me."

"I think that was code for 'Come see Alicia,'" replied Alicia. "Will, she told me everything…"

"Please understand why I didn't come to you then. Childs tried to use the possibility of your marriage breaking up as a way to get me to support his bid to overthrow Peter. I didn't want to drop a bomb on you about Peter's illicit activities, and honestly, if I'd seen him, I might have punched him for what he'd done to you. I also didn't want you or Peter to think I was making a play for a happily married woman, because if you hadn't believed me, that's how it would have appeared. And above all, I didn't want to be responsible for hurting you…"

Alicia smiled and stood up as Will continued to babble uncharacteristically. She crossed the room, stood squarely in front of him, and put her finger to his lips, disregarding anyone who might be able to see them.

"Will, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"So we're okay?"

Alicia turned his own words on him as she said, "We're good. We're gonna be good." Then she was in his arms, and Will's world finally felt right again.


End file.
